It’s a mystery spanning a decade – the fate of Ray and Jennie Kehlet in the outback of Western Australia.
However, cold case investigators are following fresh leads, and three new items of interest have been uncovered.
Three prospectors embarked on a camping trip to Sandstone, located 750 kilometres from Perth, in search of gold – but only one returned.
In 2015, husband and wife Ray and Jennie embarked on this trip with their friend Graham Milne, and even after more than a decade, the journey remains shrouded in mystery.
Ray Kehlet’s body was discovered 12 metres down in an abandoned mineshaft; a coroner concluded he was murdered.
The same applies to Jennie, but her body has never been located.
What happened to Ray and Jennie Kehlet is a question still haunting their loved ones.
Ray’s brother, Dave Kehlet, has never given up on finding out what happened to his brother and sister-in-law.
“You just needs answers, you need to know what happened so you can accept it,” Dave said.
Now, his prayers could be answered with a potential breakthrough that could help solve the buried secret that’s haunted the Goldfields.
Cold case investigators have revealed three key items: A set of gloves, women’s work boots, and a distinctive key.
According to Dave, investigators believe the boots could have been with Jennie when she died.
He added that the car was found in the bush, half a kilometre from camp, but the key has never been found.
“People might have found those items and not thought anything of them, it gets people talking as well,” he said.
The items of interest now part of an appeal with signs scattered across Sandstone and Bell Chambers.
Dave met with the lead investigator of Ray and Jennie’s cold case for the first time this week. He says that meeting left him feeling hopeful.
“I don’t think you can accept anything until you’ve got those answers,” he said.
Sandstone’s landscape is vast and rugged but the area could soon be cleared for gold mining.
Police are constantly travelling to the site hoping to find something before the land is “disturbed”.
